Same song, just a different verse for Red Raiders, Rangers

Posted: Sunday, October 10, 1999

JON MARK BEILUE

Surveying the scene on a picture perfect Saturday when I'd rather be outside doing anything:

Here it is again, and again, and again, and again...Exhibit A of the Spike Dykes tenure at Texas Tech. Follow a big win with an awful performance. The latest, a 41-21 kicking at Oklahoma State, after a win last week over Texas A&M. OSU, a three-point favorite, led 31-7 at halftime.

You could see this baby coming. As written two weeks ago, the program never seems to learn from its mistakes, never seems to build on its little successes. One step forward, one step backward.

Been there, done that.

There's many ways to describe the Rangers' once-again inspiring offensive performance against the Yankees in the postseason. "Choking dogs" is the first thing that comes to mind.

I'll never downgrade the Rangers' starters again. At least they showed up.

There's nothing wrong with the Texas A&M offense that Baylor can't cure. Having gone more than 30 possessions without an offensive touchdown, the Aggies broke loose in a 45-13 win against the Bears.

A&M rang up 417 yards, and Randy McCown threw three touchdown passes. The Aggies scored 28 second-half points, and not that we care about such things (but we do), A&M covered the 31-point spread. That's important to a worn-down Crystal Ball picker.

Still, at this juncture, A&M doesn't look any better than third in the Big 12 South on that performance behind Oklahoma and Texas. And Texas Tech holds a tiebreaker based on its 21-19 win last week. But things can change quickly.

Can Baylor really be that bad? The Bears are 3-24 in the Big 12 Conference since its 1996 inception. They've been outscored 148-23 by OU, Texas and A&M.

Baylor's downslide coincided with joining the Big 12. Some of those Grant Teaff teams from the 1980s and early 1990s would be pretty competitive, but while Baylor stepped up in competition, the program has been on a severe downturn. No doubt the Bears will get better - there's only one way to go - but Kevin Steele has a huge mountain to climb.

Clutch win for Texas over Oklahoma. OU was up 17-0 before the last strains of the national anthem had filtered out of the Cotton Bowl. If the Longhorns, losers to Kansas State last week, had started 0-2 in the Big 12, that was a hole they weren't going to dig out.

UT recovered, outscored the Sooners 31-3 at one point and went on to a 38-28 win. Major Applewhite gets it done, and the Texas defense adjusts to the Flying Sooner Circus.

The game lasted four hours. That's about as long as it took for most to get to the game. Traffic for the Texas-OU game, combined with the State Fair, is always a treat.

How about Michigan State and Virginia Tech in the national championship game at the Sugar Bowl? Think that wouldn't get the country all excited? No? Well, how about in Michigan and Virginia?

It could happen. Michigan State has an excellent team, beating No. 3 Michigan 34-31 Saturday after leading at one point, 34-17. Virginia Tech is a good team with an easy schedule.

If the Hokies can win at home on Nov. 13 against Miami, they should finish 11-0. Michigan State's road is considerably tougher. Among the Spartans' last five games are road games with Purdue and Wisconsin, and home games with Ohio State and Penn State.

Remember when a Cowboys-Eagles game used to get your heart pounding? Remember getting so mad at Buddy Ryan you wanted to spit at the TV? How great it was to shut up those Iggles fans, whose collective IQs were somewhere around Michael Irvin's jersey number?

Are those days gone. Philly is 0-4 and is just awful. The Eagles haven't scored a touchdown in their past 46 possessions and have netted only 59 yards on 56 second-half pass attempts.

It's not much fun to hit a team when it's down. Kick 'em, it's easier.

Considering Caprock had lost 13 of its past 15 games, the Longhorns' 34-27 win against Pampa on Saturday had to surprise more than a few. It wasn't that Caprock won, but the way the Longhorns won.

Caprock led 34-7 at halftime as quarterback Tanner Craven threw for more than 250 yards. Pampa dominated the second half - the Longhorns did not get a first down - but the damage was done.

Certainly it was the biggest win since Ron Rogers took over in 1998. District 3-4A is basically Hereford and Borger, and four other guys. Those four others are battling for that No. 3 playoff berth. Caprock essentially has to beat Dumas and Palo Duro to get the No. 3 seed in the expanded playoffs, which would be its first playoff berth since 1975.

You'd think Rogers, a huge Oklahoma fan, wasn't all that disappointed after watching the end of the Sooners' loss to Texas. Well, maybe just a little bit.